A gold-plated record with the "Sounds of Earth" recordings is mounted on its flight bracket on the mission module of the Voyager 1 spacecraft. (Image: NASA)

Voyagers at the Termination Shock, a vast region at the edge of our solar system where the solar wind runs up against the thin gas between the stars (Image: NASA)

The gold envelope designed to protect the Voyager 1 and 2 Sounds of Earth gold-plated records from micrometeorite bombardment (Image: NASA)

The heliosphere is a bubble in space produced by the solar wind. Where the heliosphere meets the interstellar medium, is called the heliopause (Image: Lunar and Planetary Institute)
Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

A diagram of the trajectories that enabled NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft to tour the four gas giant planets and achieve velocity to escape our solar system (Image: NASA)

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, from the NASA Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida, propelled into space on a Titan/Centaur rocket (Image: NASA)

Artist's Concept of Voyager in flight (Image: NASA/JPL)

The greatest surprise revealed by the mission at Jupiter was probably the discovery of active volcanism on the moon Io (Image: NASA)

The mission provided an extended and close-range view of Saturn. Voyager 1 flew by in November 1980 while Voyager 2 toured the planet in August 1981 (Image: NASA)

After its flyby of Saturn, Voyager 1 headed up and away from the plane of the planets. Meanwhile, Voyager 2 traveled on to Uranus (Image: NASA)

Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to observe Neptune when it flew past in 1989 (Image: NASA)

The Voyagers are soon to cross the heliopause, the edge of the bubble created by the sun's supersonic wind (Image: NASA)

Earth at a distance of more than four billion miles. Earth is the dot in the middle of the bright streak (Image: NASA/JPL)

The plaque mounted to Pioneers 10 and 11 in 1972 is designed to show when Pioneer was launched, from where, and by what kind of beings (Image: NASA)

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Article Summary

The last time we checked on the Voyager 1 & 2 they were hurtling towards the edge of the solar system at over 37,000 mph (60,000 km/h). The car-sized spacecraft are now and incredible 11 billion miles (17 billion km) and 8 billion miles (14 billion km) from Earth respectively – they are the longest continuously operated spacecraft in deep space and having traveled further than any man-made object, they will soon become the first to enter the realm of interstellar space. NASA recently held a briefing on the achievements of the program which gives us the opportunity to ponder where the Voyagers are, where they are going and the amazing scientific discoveries realized so far in their 33 year journey.